Thursday, December 29, 2016

Saw " MOOL " or ROOTS, a play written and directed by Makhan lal Saraf. Saraf sahib himself performed the Lead role of Aasaar e kadeem Niranjan Nath Bamzai .

This Kashmiri play was staged on 26th December 2016 (At Abhinav Thatre Jammu) by Makhan lal Saraf’s BHOORANG FOUNDATION in the ongoing 10th drama Festival organized by Jammu And Kashmir Academy of Art Culture and languages .

Abhinav Theatre Auditorium was almost packed today .Wonderful play .Superb background music . Saraf sahib was in his elements inspite of his age. Agile , active , swift and distinctly audible . Kusum Tikoo ( As Old lady and Haar Maal ) also appeared versatile.

Other actors also deserve kudos .I was impressed by acting skills of Ashok Bhat and Rohita Razdan in their roles as Kidar Nath Badaam ( Kida ) and his wife Kusum Ji . These two actors changed the initial tempo of the presentation .

This Aasaar e kadeem Niranjan Nath Bamzai lives in a Government Building ( Temporary accommodation ) outside a crematorium. He is an Ex employee of the Department of Archives ; Hence the Aasaar e Kadeem Tag with his name . A widower , Aasaar e Kadeem Niranjan Nath Bamzai is from the crowd of hapless people who had to leave their homeland or birth place and run for safety after Armed militancy arrived in kashmir .

In an alien land , Aasaar e kadeem Niranjan Nath Bamzai discovers his childhood love Heemaal. A widow and childless, Heemal lives in a temporary accommodation near in his neighbour hood. Their relationship revives and they become companions .

And then suddenly , In a museum in srinagar city , two statues are stolen. These statues depicted a kashmiri Pandit and a Panditiani in a pheran.

In the meantime , Aasaar e Kadeem Niranjan Nath Bamzai and Heeemal decide to go back to kashmir and join their roots . The Museum authorities and people are surprised to see walking statues in changed dress . They carry a book in their hands that details the story of their uprootedness from the land of their ancestors.

The final scene when Aasaar e kadeem Niranjan Nath Bamzai and Haar Maal turn into a stone after bleeding to death ( caught in stone pelting and gunfire ) was superbly conceptualized and presented on stage . I was reminded of Frenz Kafka's Metamorphosis and the transformation of Gregor Samsa into an insect .”

.

A story woven in a warp and weft of comedy and tragic ordeals undergone by the characters .

“Communication is all. A poet must reach the greatest number of people. Some of his words may be clothed in myth and metaphor, but they must eventually be realised by his readers. If his images are too oblique, if his symbols too dense, then, no matter how exquisitely beautiful his words or how well-crafted his syntax, he is failing as a poet.”

“ Poetry, must necessarily have an element of music. Without music there can be no poetry and like music, poetry too must follow some rules and principles. Above all, like music, poetry must have rigour. While it is easy to say that poetry, and music, come naturally to those who are gifted, even the gifted must follow certain rules and regulations if they are to be true to their gift.”

”Good poetry can indeed make the reader feel that ‘I could have said this’ or ‘This is exactly how I feel’. And when that threshold is reached, Shahryar believed, the real aesthetic experience happens, which is essentially a mystical communication between the writer and the reader or the reciter and the listener.”

“Waqt teri yeh ada mai aaj tak samjha nahin

Meri duniya kyon badal di, mujh ko kyon badla nahin”

( Shaharyaar )

“Time, I have never ever understood this trait of yours

Why have you changed my world, but not changed me”

( Autar Mota )

PS

In another Interview to some other person , Shaharyaar said :

(1)

" I can not write Mushaiara specific Poetry though many people consider this type of poetry as very good poetry . I can’t somehow compromise with films where a poet is made to write something that is unwanted or looks like a thrust . That is why I did not live in Mumbai. “

Umeed se kam chashm e Khareedar mein aaye

Hum Log Zaraa Deir se bazaar mein Aaye..

“ Poets must say only what they feel . Not more not less. If they understand this fundamental logic , their verses shall always be newer and newer . And newer things are well received by world .“

(3)

Shaharyaar taught Urdu fiction in AMU , from where he retired as Head of the Urdu Department . He never taught poetry in the university as he believed poetry could never be taught...

Reading Dr Dr A G Krishna Warrior’s English Translation of “Maha Upnishad” ..Superb gift from a friend. I share some verses as these appear in the Book …

(1)

. ‘The mind of the wise, I deem, is a loving spouse as it pleases; a protective parent as it guards and a friend as it marshals the best (arguments)”

(V 80)

(2)

‘The marks of a man of discrimination are spontaneous indifference to experiences that do not come of their own accord and hearty acceptance of those that do.”

(V 171)

(3)

“Those men who know this world as well as what is beyond conform to all things. They neither shun nor seek the ways of the world.”

(V 171 )

(4)

‘If you depend on this objective (world), you have a mind and are in bondage. If you reject the objective (world), you have no mind; you are liberated.”

(V I 35)

(5)

“Beyond (worldly) perception, the limit of one’s hope (horizon) extensive, there is no existence of any thing other than pure cognition.”

(V 47)

(6)

“All the miseries, hankerings, unbearable mental pain are lost in people with a calm mind, like darkness in the sun. All creatures subside (attain calmness) in a serene person like children mischievous or soft, in their mother.”

"My
dad was a very good actor who did not look at acting in terms of stardom. And
then came the 70s when cinema was commercialised and it was all about stardom
and money then. That is why my father turned producer. He was dissatisfied with
the work he was doing and decided to make better films."

"My
mom and dad were very close. He was 18 when he first met her. There are few
people who experience genuine love and those who do, don't recover. It's been
28 years since she died but I don't think dad ever completely recovered after
her death. She died when she was 50 and he was 46. He could have remarried but
for him that was not an option. They were soulmates. Every relationship has its
share of problems but their connection was rare and unusually strong."

“
Dad ( Shashi kapoor ) had a lot of
medical complications. He had a bypass, a couple of strokes, he is on dialysis,
he has been through a lot .We
have a good nursing staff. He is being well looked after."He is a recluse and warms up only when
he sees his family and grand kids. He has difficulty speaking and so, does not
talk much.”

I am informed that Shashi ji talks
very little and meets fewer people now. He is being moved on a wheel chair and
his children take close , keen and
continuous interest in his medical treatment and welfare .

Shashi kaoor’s hand
impression was needed at a function inside Prithvi Theatre and his family decided to give this honour to Krishna ji ( Wife of late Raj kapoor ) .
Though herself unwell, krishna ji was too pleased to do the needful. Looking at her mother like Aunt , Tradition bound Shashi Kapoor wanted to touch her feet but could
not do so from his wheel chair . He repeatedly tried to get up and do it and
finally Krishna Ji had to stop him and console him . That brought tears in his eyes . Krishna ji too
turned sad .

( KRISHNA JI CONSOLING SHASHI KAPOOR )

Shashi Kapoor had always treated Krishna ji as his mother. And and Krishna ji never differentiated between
her own children and Shashi .

( SHASHI WITH HIS ELDEST BROTHER RAJ KAPOOR )

Prithvi
Raj kapoor had named this handsome young child as "Balbir Raj Prithviraj Kapoor ".

To
conclude , I add a couplet of Jigar Moradabaadi....

"vahii
hai Zindagi lekin "Jigar" yeh Haal hai apnaa

ke
jaissay Zindagi se Zindagi Kam Hotii Jaati Hai

........Meray
Hissay Ki Goya har Khushi Kam Hotii Jaati hai..."

“O Jigar “ Same is your
Existence ,Unchanged yet on a different stage ,As if , Life moves away from Life ,more and more gradually..

Shashi
Kapoor acted in about 160 movies out of
which 12 were in English and 148 in Hindi . He learnt acting skills from his father Prithvi Raj Kapoor with who’s
Theatre Group he kept travelling as a member ( as Child artist ) across the length and Breadth of the country . At the age of 18, he met his wife Jennifer Kendal when
Geoffrey Kendal ( Jennifer 's father ) brought “Shakespeareana “ , a Traveling Theatre Group to Calcutta . Incidentally “ Prithvi Theatres “
had also to perform at the same venue . When Shashi saw Jennifer for the first time , she was playing “ Miranda “ in “ The
Tempest “ produced by her father's troupe . It was a love at first sight .Shashi started touring with Geoffrey’s troupe. They met in 1956 and in 1958,
this romance blossomed into a marriage . They proved a made for each other
pair; Attached and committed to each other . Kunal , Sanjana and Karan Kapoor , their
children are well settled in life . Presently Shashi kapoor's children take keen
interest in managing “Prithvi
Theatres”. Out of sheer passion and
fierce commitment , Shashi kapoor’s children have ensured the survival of the
loss-making “Prithvi Theatre”.

In
films , Shashi kapoor carried the reputation of a perfect Gentleman. He won two Filmfare Best
Movie Awards for his work as producer and star of Junoon (1979) and Kalyug
(1981). In films ,He remained second
highest paid actor for quite sometime .

After Prithivi Raj kapoor and Raj kapoor , He is the third member from kapoor Clan to win
Coveted Dada Saheb Phalke Award ( 2014 ) . He has also been honoured with prestigious
Padma Bhushan by the Government of India
in 2011.

.
After his wife Jennifer died of cancer in 1984, Shashi started taking fewer roles
in films and began getting Health problems .

What
Noon Meem Rashid is to urdu poetry or Nirala is to Hindi Poetry, Mehdi Akhavan
Saless is on similar footing to Persian Poetry . He is considered as pioneer of
Blank verse In Persian Poetry .

Mehdi
Akhavan Saless was born in 1928 in
Mashhad, Iran. He completed his elementary education in Mashad and entered the
city's Technical School in 1941 to study
Metallurgy . He graduated in 1947.

Apart from writing poetry , Saless worked as
school Teacher ,college Lecturer , Film Editor ( Ebrahim Golestan’s film
Production ) , Radio And TV Program Presenter and University Teacher .

He
was a friend and contemporary of Forugh Farrokhzad, Ahmed Shamlou and Sohrab
Sepehri.

He
was a primary influence in developing what came to be known as "New
Poetry" ( Sher e Nau ) in Persian Poetry .

His
poems are intense in feelings , simple in language and laced with symbolic
Metaphors drawn from ancient Iranian civilization .Many critics say that his
poems bring forth a silent sadness that possibly originated from his lonely
soul. From my study , I need to add that the annoyance and disillusionment appearing
in Akhavan’s work represents
an orderly disagreement with political-social events. It also reflects solitude and seclusion of a man
set against overpowering circumstances
.

He
remained an admirer of Gurudev Tagore and Buddha .

In
1990, he visited Germany, England, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and France . In every country , He received an Icon’s
reception and welcome during this trip.

(A SKETCH OF MEHDI AKHAVAN SALESS)

Akhavan died of a heart attack in Tehran
. He tomb is close to FIrdausi’s Mausoleum in Tus (Mashhad, Iran ).

He
used OMID ( Hope ) as his pen name .Saless
Published about 15 poetic collections .